


The Color Orange

by onewholewhale



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Best Friends, Dating, F/F, F/M, Happy Ending, Heartbreak, I probs got VERY carried away lmao, M/M, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2015-08-11
Packaged: 2018-04-14 03:27:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4548549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onewholewhale/pseuds/onewholewhale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"They say that when you turn 18, you stop aging until you find your soul mate. Then you start aging again."</p>
<p>Marco Bodt is just an average boy who recently turned 18 with his best friend Jean Kirstein, who is constantly chasing girls. They decide to move in together and help each other out until they find their soulmates, but they promise they'll always be best friends. Of course, something gets in the way to disturb their friendship, as things do, but can they just go right back to being best friends?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Color Orange

 

 

* * *

 

      They say that when you turn 18, you stop aging until you find your soul mate. Then you start aging again. 

It’s pretty dumb, I think, but after a while I started to adjust to the idea a little bit. Neither me nor Jean are interested in women all that much... Well, me at least. Jean had a huge crush on a girl named Mikasa for most of high school, but he was disappointed to find that she was DEFINITELY not interested in him.

Or men. 

Oh, right. You probably want to know who Jean is.

Jean is my best friend. We’ve been friends... Practically since we’ve been born, I think, so we’re definitely pretty close. He has tawny eyes and blond hair, and tiny dimples at the corners of his mouth when he smiles. He always made extra sure to coordinate his outfit to the T, usually with some accessories, even if he was just going to the convenience store down the street. He spends hours on his hair, but he, unlike me, is not a procrastinator so if there is a job it is usually done quickly. 

Neither of us had met our soulmates, but we still made sure to wait a couple months after we turned 18 just to make sure. Our nails grew, as did our hair, but it didn’t feel like we were aging. Not that we were complaining, it allowed us to become a temporary “eternal bro legion” until one of us found our soulmate.

You can thank Jean for the name. 

The first red flag was when Eren was complaining that he couldn’t change his hairstyle ever again. 

We rented a small apartment, one bedroom (but two separate beds) with a tiny kitchenette and a bathroom that could literally only fit a bathtub and a toilet.

I never complained though. It was cozy, and it was always warm, especially in the summer. It even had a small porch that could fit two chairs. Luckily, we had a decently sized living room where we would play games on Jean’s PS3.

It was nice.

I liked it.

I would’ve been quite happy if we got to stay there together forever, in the tiny apartment.

That was the second red flag. 

The third red flag came when Jean left. He found a girl he liked, Sasha, and they were dating for a few weeks before Jean found it more convenient to just move in with her, “Only for a few months”. I tried to ignore the heart wrenching feeling in my chest, how much I wanted to cry every time I thought of him leaving, how much I didn’t want him to leave with everything I had, and how everyday felt empty and depressing and lonesome after he left. But, I was merely the best friend. I had to support them. After all, Sasha was probably Jean’s soulmate. He loved her, so dearly... All I could do was hope that she loved him back.

I tried to ignore the way my hair stopped growing when he left. That I clipped my nails until they were nonexistent, only to have them not grow back. That injuries didn’t seem to heal, and they took weeks longer than they should’ve. 

I tried to ignore the way I couldn’t look at my reflection in the mirror, for fear of seeing sagging, pale skin with dark bags under my eyes that I usually get from so many sleepless nights in a row. That maybe my skin would be draping, a thin, pale cloth over my bones from skipping meals.

Or maybe for fear that I wouldn’t see anything. 

 

Eventually, I got better. I ate better food, I took better care of myself, I slept in more often. I still couldn’t look at myself in the mirror, but that was to be expected. In the few glances I did take, after I started feeling better, I looked exactly the same as I always did. I healed myself, I took a day off from work to do leisurely stuff once in a while, didn’teat junk food, regulated my self and tried not to get stressed out, and buried myself in this fake utopia that I like to call “I’m fine”. I was fine. I was. The hole in my heart was repaired, I filled up that empty space with exercise and trying to better myself. I even went on a few dates, but I don’t know how Jean found joy in it. All I saw were empty smiles and empty hearts. A lot of women and men alike hit on me, but I did not get the kick out of it that Jean did. If anything, I felt worse because deep down I knew something wasn’t right. None of these people wanted me... For me. The way Jean did.

 

Or maybe that’s just me being selfish. Who knows? Not me. 

 

I became a drone. Breakfast, Work, Lunch, Work, Home, TV, Bed.Thats all I cared about. thats all I saw. Thats all I buried myself with. On the weekends, It was: Breakfast, excersize, Library, lunch, Home, Read, Nap, dinner, Bed.

This was fine. This was alright. I was busy, I was ok, I was getting better.

 

All those things I built up, all those thoughts, got blasted out of the water when a very familiar person showed up to my door one day in the middle of the night holding nothing but a duffle bag. Wet, tawny eyes stared into mine like they held the answer to the universe, taking my walls, protection, utopia, and breath all away at the same time. 

I was never ok.

I was never fine.

I was never whole. 

The repair job on the hole in my chest was both shoddy and a sham. 

The only person who could fill that one is standing right next to me, tears streaming down his face.

And it was filled, in his crushing bear hug that warmed me in a way this cozy, small apartment never could. Even in the winter.

That, was the third red flag. 

 

Some months later, everything was finally ok. We also had an unspoken vow: No dating unless you’re sure.

Sasha had broken up with him because she found some other boy was her soulmate; Some guy named Connie. I don’t really know the details, but Jean looked a little relieved as he told me that he and Sasha were on good terms now, as friends. Everything was settling down now. I got promoted, and a full year past before we considered the fact that we’ll have to split up eventually. The thought scared the living hell out of me, being that I didn’t want to go though what I went through when Jean started dating Sasha, but Jean smiled, dimples more apparent then they were a while ago, and said that “We’ll alway be best friends”. 

Jean always knew how to calm me down. He WAS my best friend, after all. 

Another year went by. We started hanging out with Sasha and Connie, and they were pretty cool. Sasha’s hair grew out and Jean told me that Connie had formed smile lines under his eyes. They were practically joined at the waist- they both loved food, and would often eat off each others forks. It would seem endearing to most people, even cute, but Jean’s grossed out face mirrored my own. 

“Dude, if I find my soulmate I sincerely hope that they won’t do anything like that. Gross.”

I nodded in agreement.

Months passed. Days drifted by, and our group of friends extended by a few more. Armin, Annie, Bertolt and Reiner. Not only them, however. According to Jean, he was supposed to be Eren’s best man at his wedding. 

“I just can’t believe, that after a YEAR AND A HALF of never speaking to me, he has the GALL to ask me to be his BEST MAN?” Jean ranted, storming around the small kitchen while I sat on the couch, reading over the wedding invitation. _Eren Jaeger and Levi Ackerman_ read across the front. “WHO does that!? Cruel irony, that’s who.”

 

He still agreed to do it, however.  

 

Eren and Levi were happily married, Annie met Mikasa at the wedding and they started dating, Sasha just found out she’s expecting a baby, and everything was working out perfectly.

Except for us.

It’s been about 5 months since the marriage, and I sat next to Jean on our couch, watching some mindless movie. It was pretty late at night and work is starting to pick up again now that summer had ended, so we decided to order pizza. I was starting to doze off, and i’m pretty sure Jean had already fallen asleep. Admittedly I hadn’t examined his face very thoroughly recently, my face always felt warm every time I did and I always got strange thoughts in my head that made me nervous. It’s been happening ever since the wedding, which was the first time I saw him in a suit I think. He was even wearing a dark green bowtie and a light green shirt, since that was the theme of the wedding. Green. 

Jean looked nice in green. Also orange. Orange matches his eyes. Maybe if I just take a quick peek at his face... 

I shifted, Staring down at him. He looked the most at peace sleeping then I’ve ever seen him.

His hair had grown out, I noticed, lifting my hand to gently run my hands through the thin strands. Ym sleep-deprived mind could do nothing to stop this action. “Maybe he’ll let me help him maintain his undercut.” I thought, brushing my thumb through the short hairs.

I got caught in the repetitive petting motion, thoughts caught on the color orange and tawny eyes and dimples until I couldn’t think anymore. Was this how I always thought of him? I didn’t know. I don’t...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I woke up in a daze, confused and surprisingly warm. The sunlight was a bit too bright as it streamed though the window and the air was slightly chilly, since it was the beginning of autumn. The birds were a bit loud though, and I don’t remember half of what happened last night. The TV was still running with the options screen of the movie, since it had finished quite a while ago. 

“Wha-” when I managed to get my thoughts together, I realized I was laying on top of Jean. 

At first I panicked, What if he woke up? I tensed up, ready to be yelled at, but he just turned his head and gently snored away. Somehow during the night his legs had intertwined with mine, and I tried as quietly as I could to untangle them and creep away to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

I could still taste pizza. Gross. Speaking of which, I should probably put it away. 

I pasted toothpaste onto my toothbrush as I tried to distract my brain from what just happened. The thing with the couch, and laying on top of him-

Ok, that wasn’t happening. 

I sighed as I put the toothbrush in my mouth, looking at myself in the mirror. I usually don’t do that everyday, since I usually always look the same.

Or so I thought.

I saw my eyes widen. My jaw went slack, the toothbrush falling out and hitting the sink with a sharp clang, startling Jean awake. 

“Wha- Where- Marco!? What happened?” He said incredulously. I ignored him as I leaned in closer to my reflection, lifting my bangs that had grown out longer than I liked to get a better look. 

There. Right there. 

In my reflection, you see, I spotted something I had definitely not expected.

A gray hair. I had a gray hair. 

I was aging.  

I turned to Jean, speechless and shell shocked. I searched his face desperately to see that he had a very worried and very scared expression on his. No dimples. Not right now. 

“Marco, what’s the matter? Are you ok?” He asked, voice trembling a little bit. Is it just me, or did it get a little lower from when we were 18? He slowly started walking towards me, concern now crossing his features. “I’ve never seen you this freaked out...”

I gulped, slowly bringing my hands down from my hair to look at them. They shook a bit, But they did look a bit wider and larger, the skin rougher then before when I was 18. I almost felt like laughing.

 And crying. 

Of course, the irony.

“Jean, we might have a problem here.” My voice caught, as the full understanding of what happened finally dawned on me. 

Everything is starting to make sense, like pieces of a puzzle finally fitting together bit by bit after being in disarray for years, like something I should’ve figured out long, long ago. 

 

“I think we are soulmates.” 

 

That was the fourth, and final, red flag, I decided, as I closed my eyes in finalization and as Jean’s widened.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Are you telling me,” Hanji, our wedding entrepreneur/friend said incredulously, “That you’ve known each other, SINCE YOU WERE BORN, have LIVED TOGETHER since you were EIGHTEEN, and you NEVER NOTICED that you were aging until you saw a gray hair in the mirror?”

“Well,” I chuckled. “I think it was one of those things, you know, like when you don’t notice how much your puppy’s grown until you look at the before and after pics, you know?” I confessed. “Except I never really thought to look.” 

“Wow.” They said, rubbing their face, shell shocked. “Thats incredible. Thats a story for the books.”

“Haha, maybe.” I smiled as I took a sip from my mug of tea. 

 

After that, Jean had gotten upset and had left the apartment. Honestly, I was too shocked to really figure out that Jean might never come back, but when I did, two days later, I found him at the door with a apologetic look on his face, after staying at Eren’s and having a “talk”. I’ve never asked him what they spoke about, but they did seem to be on better terms after that, calling each other up from time to time. If I hadn’t gotten upgraded to “boyfriend” I probably would have felt replaced as “best friend”.

He always found joy in playing with my hair and looking for new gray ones, even though I felt self conscious about it he’d just kiss me and say that my hair’s perfectly fine the way it is. He did eventually let me maintain his undercut, although he was very nervous when doing so. I’ve shaven hair before, I know what I’m doing! And no, I did not give him a bald spot when shaving it the first time, don’t tell him. 

 

“So-” Hanji snapped me out of my thoughts. “When do you plan for the wedding to be? Spring? Summer?” She frowned, rubbing her chin. “A lot of people like summer, But it IS summer... It might me too soon...”

I smiled, playing with the simple silver band around my finger. “Thats ok! We decided to do it during fall.” 

Hanji’s eyes lit up excitedly. “FALL? That’s a beautiful time to get married. The right kind of cold, and red, orange and yellow leaves everywhere.” They said dreamily. “Do you have a place in mind?” They asked out of the blue. 

“Not Vegas, or a church.” I said immediately, eyes wide. Jean and I had made sure to discuss that. “Maybe somewhere outdoors.”

“OH! I have the perfect Idea” Hanji said excitedly. “With tall, weathered oak beams holding up large, pale orange drapings, and OF COURSE you’re going to need lights: Christmas lights trailing up the wood, OH, and candles with pine bases lighting up the pews - outdoor pews, mind you, not church pews - oh and OH!” They suddenly squealed, clapping their hands together and scaring the living daylights out of me. “RED OAK LEAF TRAIL FOR THE FLOOR! And then of course the flower girl is going to scatter those... Do you have a girl in mind?”

“Uh,” I stammered, “We were thinking Sasha’s little girl, but she’s only 4 years old... I don’t know if she can-”

“PERFECT” Hanji exclaimed. “Thats perfect. Ring Bearer?”

“Well, Sasha’s little boy. They’re twins, you know, so we figured-”

“Even better,” Hanji purred, interrupting me again. “How about a theme? A lot of people use disney or harry potter, but a lot of people use color themes. We both know people who went with that.” She winked at me. Levi is how we met, me and Hanji. 

I twisted my ring, which was given to me by Jean a little less than a year ago, while we were watching the sunset on a tall hill that jean claimed was “The best spot to have a picnic”. After I had said yes, (More like viciously nodded) he started crying out of happiness, which made me cry for the same reason, and it was really messy and gross but we ended up watching the stars together, holding hands. 

Come to think of it, the sunset _was_ really pretty...

“Orange.” I concluded, and hanji smiled happily. “That’s a nice color, orange.”

I smiled. “It is.” Jean also looked really nice in orange. Have I said that before? I think I did. 

She closed her eyes, smiling. Probably picturing the whole thing in her head. I have to admit, the way she described it sounded perfect. Not that I have much to compare it to, and I don’t have much of an imagination so I can’t really “see” what it looks like, but it definitely sounded perfect. 

“We could use branches for decorations...” She mumbled, startling me a bit. Her eyes were still closed. “Mini pumpkins are a must...”

Her eyes snapped open as I stared at her. She slowly leaned forward and grabbed her note book, lifting her pen in the air like she was about to stab something. 

“Now,” She said, staring me in the eyes. “What about food.”

 

“So,” Jean started. “How’d it go?”

“I never thought Hanji could get so enthusiastic about weddings.” I murmured, nuzzling into his shoulder, my eyes closed. “But it went very nicely. I have no doubt that she would do an amazing job.”

“That sounds nice.” Jean whined. “I wish I could’ve been there, but when you have work...”

I sleepily patted his arm. “I know. But now you can be 100% completely surprised by how it’ll look. It will be a good surprise, I promise.”

“I don’t know how I feel about being surprised at my own wedding...” he mused. “Can you at least tell me the theme?” he pleaded.

“Orange.” I chuckled. “And the flower girl is going to be scattering leaves instead of flowers. The red, oak kind.” I poked him. “So leaf girl, I guess.”

He froze. I thought maybe I did something wrong but then he said “Did you tell them about the ‘No Vegas, no churches’ thing?”

“Yep.”

“Also in fall?”

“Yep.”

“And about the Italian wedding soup?” I opened one eye and glared at him, only to be met with a cheeky smile, his tiny dimples very apparent from where I was curled against him.

“Yes.”

“Aww yiss” He said, making a small fist pump. I scowled, grumbling “I don’t know why you have to have THAT particular kind of soup.”

“Uh,” He scoffed, feigning offense. “Wedding soup? At a WEDDING. It’s mandatory, if I do say so myself.”

I could feel his cockiness radiating off of him. Asshole.

“Whatever. But just so you know, all the other foods are going to be pumpkin themed.” I poked him again, a little harder this time. “It’s going to be severely out of place.”

He chuckled. “Sasha can eat it.”

We chatted like that for another hour before we were both too tired to talk. 

 

 

_Looking back on it now,_ I mused as drowsiness took over my body, _we don’t act much different with each other from how we did in the beginning, huh. From when we just moved in with each other._

I smiled. 

_Well, that’s the way it should be. And I wouldn’t have it any other way._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I know I got very carried away, but I tried to make it that the memories that are more recent are clearer than the older ones.  
> OH YEAH please comment what you thought of it, and send me a kudos if you enjoyed:)


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